Date #29 - Noah R.

I had my misgivings about meeting him, but he knew how to use the English language so I gave it a go. Let's do this list already.

Pros

• Knows how to use the English language.
• .....nope, that' s about it. Oh, he said I was "very attractive". That's a pro, right?
• ......no, that's really it.

Cons

• Sells refrigerators. Well, works for a company that buys them wholesale. I'm not one to hate on different professions, but okay, yes, I'm going to hate. I hated, just now, just a little bit.
• Brought me 2 roses. Oh. My. God. This was our FIRST TIME MEETING. And we had only chatted online ONCE. The girl at Coffee Bean said, "AWWWW, did you bring her those?" I was mortified.
• Was too eager to tell me everything about him. Like how someone thought his voice was cool and he can do all sorts of "accents", so they asked him to record an audio book. Or how he lost 25 pounds in 2 months. Or how he has two cars, one of which was his dad's, who passed away when he was 21, and put in his will that he gave the car to him, but only found out when he passed away and saw the will, and how.... should I stop now?
• He was just too weird for me. The first thing he told me when we sat down was that he was a pirate. And showed me his pirate bracelet. And pirate necklace. And said he went to a pirate dinner show, so he's been a pirate ever since. Please, someone save me.
• Shall I continue? I'm going to stop, since I want to go to bed and already spent enough time on him.

He's not a bad guy, just fucking weird. And because I felt that he was a nice but weird guy, I gave him 1 hour and 20 minutes of my life. Goddamnit, I need to cut this shit out, back out even earlier if I can tell that this ain't going nowhere. So I wrote him an email essentially saying, you is not what i is lookin for, lates, good lucks.

I should go with my gut from now on. My gut said don't do it, but I gave him a chance. Silly Lily!

Date #28 - Noah C-Z

Yet another 26-year old. Hails from all over the place. Is a UCLA alum as a history major. Has good writing skillz.

Pros

• Got wit. But sometimes comes off a bit mean.
• Has traveled more places than I have. He's been everywhere, and has done it the way I've wanted to do it - months and months at a time.
• 6'3''.
• Sarcastic. Sometimes hard to tell if he's joking, cause I'm barely learning his style.
• Cute. I guess. Yeah, he's cute.
• Very easy to talk to. I don't need to supply conversation, the next topic just pops right up.
• Able to entertain. We played a game on the ride back home (since he had no stereo) and we each asked each other questions, but could never ask the same question back. Learned that he lived in Medeillan, Columbia for several months, bought a house, flipped it and sold it. WTF? Craziness, but gotta hand it to him, that's pretty cool.
• Has some insightful thoughts on inter-continental relationships, as he is so very well traveled.

Cons

• His humor can be a bit harsh, almost arrogant sometimes.
• He's TOO skinny. Too skinny!
• Kind of forward. When I went to use his restroom after our date (LA County Fair, don't EVER EVER GO THERE!!), he showed me his room and said, "have a seat!" on his bed. Um, felt SUPER awkward, so I stood, and then he proceeded to "flirt" with me by comparing his height sitting down on the bed with my standing height, and grabbed me by the waist to bring me closer. Um, no. Hands off the waist buddy.
• Too garish at times. He'd kind of exaggerate reactions and emotions, and although it may be acceptable for LILY to do so, he shouldn't do so. Not cute. (But cute on Lily?? Yesh! ;).

Not really feeling the chemistry, but he's not bad to talk to. He already friended me on Facebook. Oh well, he's here for a bit until I decide to unfriend him

Date #27 - Otto

26-year old that originally hails from North Carolina. Yes, he speaks some North Carolinan. He's cute and he's a geek, but I love geeks. And he sculpts toys for a living. How freaking rad is that.

We decide to do the double featurette of the Toy Story 3D movies. Not my first choice but he suggested it. 3 hours in a dark theater with potential awkwardness. Alright, bring it on. He meets me at my place so I can drive us to the Century City Mall.

Pros

• He's cute. Not hot like I fantasized, but still cute.
• He's got a good sense of humor, but it goes into remission when I'm physically near him. It only comes out via text, email or chat. He's shy.
• He's shy. It's cute and endearing.
• Even though he's shy, I can tell he really likes me. :)
• Did I mention he was 6'4''?
• He must be good with his hands since he's a sculptor, if you catch my drift... mu ha ha ha ha ha!!
• He's a true gentlemen. Wouldn't hear of me trying to pay for my movie tickets and offered to buy me concessions during the movie break. So sweet!
• He's a good person. That I can instantly tell just from meeting him.
• For funnies and laughters, he had laser lines put into the side of his head. Like how Vanilla Ice had his hair. He said nobody got the joke. But I did! :D

Cons

• He's so shy that it's painful sometimes. The pregnant pauses seem to last for hours and it makes me crazy. I can't POSSIBLY supply all the conversation points! Hopefully he will open up better next time.
• He's a bit young. 26. But I will see how this 26 year old fares.
• When he didn't hear me or didn't understand me, he says "What?" in this way that rubs me the wrong way. Dunno what it is, just feels too... harsh?

I had to have the chat with him about me dating multiple people at once. He said he was a one-girl-at-a-time man, and I respect that, but I need to do what I think is best for me. I've put all my eggs into one basket with Jeff and Chad, and I may have potentially passed on people that could have worked out better with me. So until I am sure, I am keeping my options open. I explained that to him, and he understands and says he will still come courtin'.

We have date #2 lined up this week, so we'll see how this goes!

Date #26 - Garrett

Much akin to Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals, this speedy round was Lily's Wham-Bam Meet-Em and Loose-Em edition.

He finds me via the internet and sends me an email. Super nice guy. Really generic, but very nice. Get the feeling he's a bit scared of this whole online dating thing, but whatdahell, he's kinda cute.

I am chatting with him online on a Saturday evening, me and laundry hanging out, Garrett and his towel hanging out (just got outta the shower, he claims). I bully him into meeting me for a drink in Santa Monica. Now. He stumbles a bit. Now? Yeah, now. You scared of me? Of course he can't admit he's scared of me, but he's scared of me. We meet at Busby's on Santa Monica Blvd.

Pros

• Just as I imagined, ridiculously nice.
• Just as I imagined, very scared. Or if I were to use a kinder word, shy.
• He bought me a beer. Hooray for chivalry!
• Can play some b-ball. He goes to the gym over by the Magic Johnson theater and can hang with the boys. They respect the little white boy. He can shoot 3 pointers.
• Likes to read. And write. Good. He can speak the English.

Cons

• Conversation did not floweth. It halted a bit, froze a bit, was awkward a bit, was fluid a bit. Overall, okay. And it was mostly ME of course who greased the wheels to make it run.
• Seemed really surprised when I told him I read Fight Club and Bourne Identity. I could practically see in his eyes, what? A girl who reads man-books? It wasn't really a con per se, but just thought it was weird that he thought it was weird. You dig?
• He seemed kind of boring. Like.... plain oatmeal. No cream added, no honey added, no raisins either. Just plain old oatmeal. I want an ice cream sundae, not oatmeal.
• Post-date online chatting, he suggested we cuddle. Cuddle = bodies touching = hands roaming = sex. Sigh. Comon dude, be more of a gentleman!!! (Still, the chastity belt remains on!!)

So all-in-all, he was an okay guy, but no chemistry on my end. How could you ignite a spark with oatmeal? Your flame would just fizzle.

And just like that, I blocked him on chat so I wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. Sorry kiddo, don't have the patience nor the desire to make you feel better about yourself. You done fucked up. ;)

Date #25 - Paul

My first Aussie! I felt safe going on this date because he was leaving tomorrow and so there would be no pressure for follow up. I know, I'm a chicken.

Pros

• Very easy to talk to.
• "Australian biscuits! They taste great!" Australian accents are cute, how can you not like them?
• Hates Twitter.
• Hates the cold.
• Loves to travel.
• When he was describing Australia and its surrounding countries, he dismissed Tasmania saying, we don't like to talk about them. LOL. <--- The lol is not to be used lightly, which indicates the impact of this statement on lily. LOL was an appropriate way to describe her reaction.

Cons

• A bit on the skinny side.
• Lives far. Would never try a long distance thing. Evar.
• Not romantically attracted to him.

He was gonna cab it home, but I dropped him off as he was staying in Brentwood. No pressures, we said we would keep in touch and that was that. A fun evening with good conversation and a new friend across the Pacific pond.

Date #24 - Chad

This was a 3 month stint that started in May and ended in heartache. So not to dwell on too many stories, here is a list to summarize it all:

Pros

• Handsome. Very solid, good looking guy.
• Great chemistry. The mutual attraction was palpable.
• Smart. 99.9th percentile on his MCATs.
• A doctor that loves his profession and is great at it. Job satisfaction! And job stability!
• He brought out a great side in me. With him, my wit floweth. My caring knew no bounds. My OCD was put to a halt. My generosity was at its best.
• He tought me knew words. My vocabulary was expanding.
• We had a similar sense of humor. Laughter was abundant.
• I was happy.

Cons

• He was immature. He thought no girls pooped or farted. So I never pooped or farted in front of him. Or at least he thought so. ;)
• He was inexperienced with love + relationships. He didn't start dating until he was 28.
• He was extremely superficial. He spent more time on his hair than I did on mine.
• He drove a Corvette. And wanted to upgrade his car to.... another Corvette! Yay!
• He couldn't show me signs that he really cared for me. He blamed it on the fact he was emotionally devoid from his past relationships.
• He never displayed affection in public because he, in a sense, was ashamed of me. He wanted me to dress up in heels and makeup so that others would envy him. I hid behind a "mask" of natural beauty, according to Dr. Awesome. Brilliant!
• He would not try new things, experiences, places, etc.
• Had a fear of flying. Never been on an airplane, said he never would.
• Didn't have the balls to tell me he only cared for me as a friend, not a lover.

Sadly, this relationship would have hobbled along until he grew tired of the sex, or I got more sick of the situation I was in. I knew I deserved better, so despite me blindly falling for him, I had to break it off. Which is what I did.

Good riddance.

Date #23 - Daniel

This date was from back in April I believe, so bear with me as I remember the details of this particular date.

It was late on a Saturday evening. I am chatting with Daniel online. We get along great online. I have it in my head is super hot, because his pictures show him as hot. He plays guitar. He's trying to go pro with cycling. And best of all, he thinks I'm GREAT! He signed up for xyz dating website for me!

He decides to drive over from Pasadena and hang out with me on Saturday evening in my living room. And sleep over on the couch since he has a race the next morning near LAX. I'm excited. I get prettied up. And wait.

I meet him outside my apartment. My first reaction is, wow, he is skinny!

Pros

• He's cute. Not hot as I saw him to be, but very cute.
• He plays guitar. :) Sessy.
• He's a computer geek. So we can geek out together.

Cons

• He is too skinny. If my round ass sat on him, I felt like I could break him.
• His humor is a bit TOO weird. Too goofy almost.
• Doesn't make friends easily. Not that I mind that, but he doesn't have many friends, if any friends in LA. That would mean, if we were to date, I would be his one-and-only lover+friend. Ehhhhhh (that's a buzzer noise for fail).
• He felt like a brother. I don't even think I need bullet points after this one.

We have yet stayed friends, but the romance on my side fizzled after that night. How can you date someone who you have no attraction to? You cannots.

Date #22 - Matt

What what?  Did I not declare date #21 to be my last?  Well, date #20 is acting shady and unworthy of my time, and out of spite, I've reactived my profile once again.  The experiment continues.

So he's my first chat date.  We did one email back and forth and he proceeds to give me his aim screen name.  I am very comfortable chatting and like to think that the electronically edited and faceless version of me is always in good form, so I chat him up.

We have fun via chats.  He's not an obnoxious speller and I can tell he is a BIT shy, but still, we're able to get along well.  Last minute I get an invite from my coworker saying there is an art gallery opening at the Royal-T in Culver City, so I decide to ask Matt if he'd like to come.  He hesitates, saying he does feel a little pressure, but bites and decides to make the trek up here.  I get a slight sense of ball-less-ness here, but I chock it up to first time jitters.  We plan to meet in front of the venue.

His profile said he was 5'7''.  So I know he will be on the shorter side, which is fine since I'm short too, but yes, I do like my men taller.

I parked my car and hoofed it over to Royal-T.  10 yards before I get there, I noticed a guy standing in the shadows alone.  I did a double take because I did not imagine a 5'7'' to be that short.  But alas, it was him.  It felt like he was more like 5'3'' or something.  :(

Pros

• Seems pretty tech savvy.  And y'all know I like tech savvy.
• He's not afraid to try new things.  He quit his job as a network engineer and is now taking art classes to see if he might try a new career on this path.
• Good chat dynamic.  I'm a big chatter, so that's always a plus if they know how to be an effective chatter (there should be a book written on this, something entitled "How to Effectively Chat (and Flirt!) via AIM (MSN, GTalk, Yahoo!, etc.).

Cons

• Short.  And not quite proportionate.  Head is too big again.  It's like how I don't like whales - I just don't like big heads compared to smaller bodies. *Shrug*
• His pictures looked better on his profile.  In almost all scenarios when I've done this dating thing, the guy looks at least on par with his pictures, or better.  He wasn't UGLY by any means, but I was slightly disappointed.
• On top of the exterior undesirables, he's kinda cocky.  Not super blatant, but it's subtle and it's there.  I think it has to do with the fact that he worked at Google for 7 years or something, back when it was a small company up at Mountain View.  I think he thinks very highly of himself, which is annoying.
• He has SLIGHT gay factor when he talks.  Metro?  No, it's slightly gay.  I don't really like that.
• When there was a lull in the conversation, guess who had to fill it in?  Yours truly!
• Not feeling it!

I come home and I log onto my chat client and he ims me, saying he had fun tonight.  Damn.  I have to break up with him over chat now.  We chit chat sparsely for a bit (as I'm trying to think of a nice way to do this), but I chicken out and will now have to do this the next time we meet virtually.

#23 should be interesting.  He looks kinda emo, but in the older-man emo way, with tighter pants, longish dark hair that falls all over the face (he's Sicilian) but has got a cute face and interesting personality.

Same bat time, same bat channel.

Date #21 - Scott

Date #20 was a tough act to follow.  Scott actually is not too bad but I'm going to cut to the lists very quickly.

Scott is a USC student who's studying accounting.  He's already got a job lined up with KPMG for forensics accounting (investigating fraud) and he's done a tour in Iraq.  So he was a military man, infantry.  But now he's going back to school and has got a year left.  Scott likes wine and enjoys spending time with his friends (who are mostly in their early 40s) as well as playing the occasional Call of Duty.

Pros

• He seems like a smart guy.  Just by the way he explains things.
• He's pretty cute.  Nothing super special, but solid looking.
• He likes wine and knows a lot about it.  But not pretentious about it all.
• Seems like a very responsible guy.  Wants to buy a house before he gets married.
• Sarcastic and gives me a hard time.  I like it when a guy can dish it out (Ezra's [date #9] sarcasm can't be beat though, it's the best).

Cons

• When we went in for coffee at Coffee Bean, he asked if they have a military discount.  Sigh.  Really?  Do you need to do that for coffee?
  
• He's favorite genre of books is war/military books.  That's not bad in itself, but he doesn't try other things.  Oh, and the only other thing he reads is wine magazines.  Sigh.  That again is not bad in itself, but branch out a bit!
• He doesn't know how to dress himself.  Not that what he wore was bad (it was very generic, a long sleeved t-shirt, jeans and skechers shoes) but he said he had to take his girl friend to give him advice on purchasing clothing.  And he's picky about it to boot, but he still doesn't know what he really likes.  Why is this so hard?
• He has a beige couch.  He says he likes to play things safe.  He knew the beige would go with anything.  Boring?
• He's kinda straight arrow.  Not sure how I feel about that yet.

We actually hung out longer than I wanted.  I was getting tired and we had a beer and sliders at a place called the Parlor in Santa Monica.  We chatted about all sorts of stuff, so it's easy enough to talk to him.  But I kept thinking back to date #20 Jeffy.  Poor Scott didn't get a fair chance.

We had already talked about how if dating doesn't work out, that friendship is always an option, just in general.  So I think he and I could be friends, although I don't even have time for my current set of friends.  Perhaps we'll hang out again sometime.  But my time may be dedicated elsewhere, mu ha ha ha....

Date #20 - Jeffy

His name is Jeff but people call him Jeffy.  So I call him Jeffy.  Our emails to each other were short and sassy.  We progressed to the phone quickly and it was really fun talking to him.  We talked about his trip to Japan this past winter and how he had a blast with his Japanese hosts.  And how he refused to take pictures with the Japanese hostess girls at the tea rooms since he'd look like a big dorky American.  His pictures on his profile showed a really cute guy.  Hot body.  Youch.

I texted him this morning asking him if he had to work today and he did in fact.  But since he worked from home, he said he'd meet me for lunch.  I drove down to Manhattan Beach to meet him at the pier.

I sat on a stone pillar in front of the pier waiting for him to appear.  He calls me as he's walking down towards the pier and I try to spot him among the crowd.  He says he's wearing jeans.  I see him.  And my jaw drops.  Wow, he's really fucking hot (his stature).  He draws closer and he's REALLY cute too (his face).  Oh my god.  He gives me a hug.  He thinks it's cute that I'm sitting on the pillar with my feet dangling 4 feet from the ground.  *Squeal!*

We go to eat sushi at the Sun and Moon Cafe and I get to really observe his sans-sunglass face.  He's a corn-fed Iowan, super sweet, very innocent-ish wholesome guy.  Sooooo adorable.  His personality is very, very cute.  I'm going to just segue into the pros now:

Pros

• SO ADORABLE.  Not only is he ridiculously hot, but he's got the cutest freaking personality.  He refers to himself in the 3rd person, Jeffy.  Hi Jeffy!  He is a happy, happy guy.  I like it!  Oh and he has a slight midwest accent, it's the cutest thing.  He says his "o's" funny.  I told him it's endearing.
• He's got a GREAT smile.  Such nice teeth!  I told him he could do a Crest White Strips commercial they were so nice.
• Um, super hot?  He's got the CUTEST face.  Cute, cute light brown eyes.  And he's built like a UFC fighter.  And he's a surfer.  And a snowboarder.  And he's 6'1''.  And he's got hair that points in all directions.  And really sexy arms.  And long, long legs covered in True Religion jeans that are tattered and torn not for fashion's sake, but since he's worn them since 2001 (before it was tres chic to do so).  *Drooooool*
• There's something very silly about him so I laugh constantly with him.  And yes, I know I'm a chronic laugher, but I genuinely find him very funny.  Not necessarily because he is witty, but of the way he says things and how we interact.  It works very well.
• There's an innocence about him, but not in the naive way.  It's more like an innocence in the wholesome way.  When I heard his Japan stories I could see how he was very careful not to offend and be a big, obnoxious American.  Also, there were no sexual innuendo jokes at all from him, so I feel like I'm more of a pervert than him.  ;)  Oh and he's definitely not an asshole!  Hooray!!
• He actively shows interest in me.  Not in a creepy perverted way, but in a cute, flirtatious way.  He found out I had a Canon Rebel XSi and he said he had a Rebel XT.  So he brought his camera to the beach (I left mine in the car) and we walked down to the sand.  He asked me to be his subject and kept taking pictures of me saying I was adorable.  ^______^  I was too shy and kept running away though.
• He adores me.  I think this is key in a guy-girl relationship.  The guy MUST adore the girl at all costs, or else the relationship will fail.  It's like my dear friend SK (you know who you are).  Her man (AW) ADORES her and anyone can see this.  He has stars in his eyes when he looks at her and that's the way it always, always should be.  Oh, and Jeffy kissed me on the top of my head once saying I was adorable.  :D
• He's not afraid to try new things, or be ashamed of it.  He likes vampire stories so he watched Twilight.  Thought it was interesting and wanted to know more of the story so he bought the 2nd book and started reading that.  Hahahahahahaha I totally made fun of him for reading Twilight but I think it's great he's able to try it out!
• We've got great chemistry.  What else can I end this pros list on?

Cons

• He lives with roommates.  But since this is him, I totally forgive it.  It's not even an issue.
  

I'm totally smitten so I don't see many cons right now.  I'm sure there's got to be more and I will be wary that yes, right now I'm just star struck so I will be careful with my emotions.

We hung out for 4 hours that day.  We did the picture thing on the beach, walked around feeding quarters into our meters, sat down on a bench watching the ocean, drank Orange Dream Machines and soaked up the sun together.  We had so much fun together.

When we parted we had a nice, long, lingering hug.  He smells so, so nice.  I'm totally melting right now as I think back to that hug.  He asked me if I had plans this weekend and I answered in the negative.  We planned on getting together this weekend.

This was the first date that made me want to end all other connections to other dates.  Unconditionally.  And yes, I will not do that at this point but Jeffy has me floored.  I like this one.  A lot.  We'll have to see how this one goes.  :)

Aaaaaand I feel like a jerk, but I had another date right after Jeffy.  We'll go onto date #21 in just a minute.  5 minute interlude please.

Date #19 - Jonny

25 year old kid who lives in San Diego.  SAN DIEGO, folks!  I write him back saying, you're in San Diego.  That's far and I don't do commutes.  But he insists on meeting me, calling me princess and saying he'll drive up for the first date.  We compromise and meet in Irvine for some mini-golf at Boomers.

Over the phone and email, he seemed interesting enough.  Slighly crazy I think.  Not necessarily in the unstable way, but I could just tell there was something... creatively crazy about him.  He was creative, which I liked but there were tons of red flags to begin with.

1. 25 year old living in San Diego.
2. 25 year old living with parents in San Diego.
3. He spins for a living, but really is that a full-time living?  I know people who are DJs that do this, but his seems like it's not a full-time gig.

But our interactions were fun.  He seemed to really dig me.  It sounded lke he wanted to settle down with me in a house with a white picket fence in Eugene, Oregon.  Um.  Me?  Eugene, Oregon?  White picket fences?  HAHAHHAHAHAHA yeah right.

So we meet.  Aaaaand I'll just dive right into this list.

Pros

• He seems to like me?
• Has pretty eyes? <-- that doesn't save it him at all though, see the cons list below
• He seems creative.  Does DJ'ing and writes and draws.  <--- that doesn't save him still, keep reading the cons list below.

Cons

• Not as cute as pictures.  Damn.
• Short.  Damn.
• Weird fucking clothes.  Damn.  I don't like it when the crotch of guy's pants are down to their fucking knees.  It makes you look fat too.
• Fat?  Maybe not, but I couldn't tell due to the LONG-CROTCHY PANTS.
• Didn't like his voice when I heard it on the phone the first time, didn't like it in real life either.
• I think...I THINK he might come be white trash.... I just had this gut feeling when I first talked to him and I can't shake the feeling.  His brother works for Sony though, so that kinda throws a wrench in my theory.
• He said he liked Oriental women.  So I said, rugs are Oriental.  I'm Asian.  Wow.  Who still calls Asians Orientals??  (Oh yeah, Madison is totally an Asian last name.  Look it up).
• He.  Drives.  An.  xB.  Yeah.
• He says he's a great screenwriter.  Okay.  I'm a great painter too and I'm a great fucking chef as well.  Who says that about themselves?  And if you're unpublished nonetheless?  WHAT IS THE BASIS FOR THIS!!!

Before we left, he said he couldn't read me at all.  That I mask my true feelings well.  And that he had no idea what I really thought about the date.  Nice.  I had no idea that I had such depth.

He called me later that night after we split ways.  I told him I was gonna go out to watch a movie so later dude.  And he said he'd be happy to hear back from me anytime.  I just didn't want to talk to him anymore.

We are from different worlds.  I don't get him and he doesn't get me.  Annnnd I don't want to keep this up.  So I think I will call him and let him know today that Lily best be on her way.

Date #18 - Raha

I was never really interested in this guy, even when he emailed me a few times, even when I read his profile.  He seemed like a nice enough guy and I've gotta say, I just liked one of his body shot pictures where he looked very well built.  He was persistant in emailing me, and once the numbers were exchanged, of calling me too.  Nothing super fun between us, but I figured I'd go out on my first date with a Persian boy.  And yes, anyone that knows Lily H. Madison knows she doesn't like her Persians.  So this was a big leap of faith.

He wasn't too bad.  But man, he was way shorter than I expected!  And a lot slimmer, not as built as his pictures portrayed him to be.  But very easy going and friendly.  We walked from his apartment over to Monsoon on the promenade.

Pros:

• Very happy with his work life balance.  He sets his schedule so he's able to have flexibility in his life.
• Lives alone.
• Very friendly.
• Insisted on paying?  Although I have to put this in the cons list too, because I really was trying to pay for my own dinner, no freebies needed here please.

Cons:

• Dips his edamame in soy sauce.  What?
  
• Talks about shortness.  I find that there are some short guys who will talk about ME being short when it's they who have the chip on the shoulder about shortness.  It's like, just get over being short and don't make it another person's problem.  There are plenty of guys who are short and attractive.
• Insisted on paying.  I was serious about paying for my share but he wouldn't hear of it.  And then he said, next one is mine.  Damn!  That means he wants another date!
• No chemistry.  I'm not attracted to him romantically.  At all.

So now I have to do that talk with him.  Sigh.  Not gonna be easy, as I could tell that he liked me.  On our walk back from dinner he kept touching my arms and doing the pseudo-hug thing.  Grrrr.  And actually, I don't even find him interesting enough to want to be friends with him, so I think this is byebye Raha.  :(  Sorry dude!

Date #17 - Steve

Steve was also one of the early emailers and he went to Japan to visit his folks over the holiday break.  Yes, he's white and his parents live in Japan.  Steve speaks fluent Japanese.  How sexy is that!

Throughout our email exchanges I could tell he was a really sweet guy.  He shared his stories with me of his trip to Japan and even offered to bring me back toys if I was looking for something in particular.  From his pictures I wasn't really attracted to him per se but I liked how mellow our emails were.  It was almost like writing to a pen pal buddy, where there was no indication that we were trying to date which took the pressure off.  And for some reason I had it in my head that he was short.  

He was tall standing at 6 feet.  And there was definitely something about him I found attractive.  I liked how he was slim but not skinny and he just had a nice standing form.  He was very, very soft-spoken but it was rather nice.  We met at Ramen-Ya on Olympic.

I was a fucking mess.  I think I still had my fever at that point, I'm wearing glasses since I'm doing lasik next week and I'm just not in top form.  I kept apologizing to him for being a mess but he kept dismissing it saying I seemed just fine.

Pros

• I find him attractive.  He's not even that super good looking, but I am attracted to him.  I suppose that is what you call chemistry?
  
• He's really thoughtful.  He knew about me getting a pig keychain from Yoshinoya in Tokyo and that I love Miyazaki films.   So he got me a Porco Rosso keychain.  It was so cute!!  And so very thoughtful because he remembered details about me and customized a small gift for me.  :D
• I like how he dresses.  He kinda has the edgy art thing going on, but kinda slightly skater-ish as well.  More edgy artish though, but I liked that.
• He speaks fluent Japanese.  How fucking sexy is that.  We went to Nijiya after lunch and he showed me some new things that I haven't tried before.  Love it!!
• I like what he does.  He works for this television company called Current and they aggregate news in a really quirky, funny internet-savvy way.  Internet savvy is ALWAYS a good thing.  Actually, I think it's impertive for me.
• Although he doesn't blatantly show he likes me, there are subtle undertones which I think is a sweet way to show it.  It's not completely masked so I can't tell (like date #9 Ezra),  and it's not blatantly spelled out to me (like date #7 Eli and date #14 Eric), but it's just innocent enough to be fun.
• Financially responsible.  He bought a townhouse with his brother.  Not a bad thing I'm guessing?

Cons

• Almost too soft-spoken?
  
• His laugh is kinda soft-spoken as well.
• He's got a pretty serious demeanor.  Not a super negative thing, but just his resting state is very serious.  My resting state is very happy-go-lucky and upbeat.  But I guess it would be weird if I guy were like that, that would be gay.  So okay, we can nix this one.
• Not crazy about his hair.  Kinda wild and curly and not short but not long.  It's interesting.

After a while I was starting to break down (the fever kicked up a notch) so I told him I'd better go.  He then proceeded to give me the keychain (so cute!!!) and we drove back to his car (we carpooled to Nijiya from Ramen-Ya).  He told me if I felt better that I should give him a call so we can hang out.  He gave me a hug and I drove away.

He texted a few hours later saying it was really great to meet me and that he hoped the doctor gave me drugs to fix me.  He also gave me a bunch of links to watch some interesting videos which if I got bored staying home all day.  Again, how sweet is that??

I think I'll do a date #2 with this one.

Date #16 - Kevin

We'd been emailing back and forth for a bit since he was up in Northern California for the holidays.  Our emails were okay, nothing spectacular or super engaging, more of the generic get-to-know-you type of emails.

We rendezvous at a Coffee Bean in Santa Monica (same setting as our dear professor in date #8) mid-evening.  We grab the only available seats outside, as far away from already occupied open firepits as possible (not by choice).  It is goddamn cold.

He's cute!  He looks better than his pictures which is always a +.  He has sandy blonde hair and could quite possibly be more jolly and laughy than I am.  Very easy going, no pressure when talking to him.

Pros:

• Cute is good.  He had on a sexy motorcyle jacket too.  Not over the top and tasteful.
  
• Seems very motivated and driven; likes his profession very much (he's an architect).  Going to grad school right now for that too.
• Found out that his parents raised him to be very independent and to do his own shit.  For example, he started making his own lunches since he was 8 (okay okay, I was spoiled and my mom made me lunches, sheesh!)
• Conversation flowed readily.  I can be rather socially awkward at times and freeze up, but this interaction was easy.  Easy as pie!
• Oh he walked me to my car.  He said, "I'll walk you to your car."

Cons

• I believe he said he lives with roommates?
• A little TOO laughy.  I wonder if I'm like that!  It was almost weird to see someone so jolly, but I don't think it was insincere.  A weird example of this is when he called the night before to set a date time, I was at my parents.  And he started doing his really jolly laugh when I said "I don't see them that often, only a couple of times a month".  He said, "That's considered not often??  HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR!"  That totally confused me because, really, why is that funny?
• He's not uber interesting.  Just a nice guy that was easy to talk to and I'm not sure if I'm interested in him romantically.  I can determine that on date #2, if he contacts me again.

And not because I like to play games or be the typical girl doing the waiting game, but I've decided not to actively contact any of the guys I'm dating.  It just takes up too much time.  I already have so many of them contacting me back that I would never have enough time for me.

He texted back the next day saying sorry he kept me out for so long (I was coughing and shivering all night long) but that it may not have been a bad thing.  I'm reading between the lines here, but I'm guessing he had fun.  I had fun, why shouldn't mister laughy have had fun?  I jest, he's a nice guy.  :P

Date #15 - Dave

Dave is a tv executive.  He creates new shows for reality tv/talk shows/etc.  I generally don't like the entertainment asshole personas that dominant that business, but he seemed nice enough in his short emails to me.  He suggests we meet at Urth Caffe in Santa Monica.

Pros

• Seems like a smart, smart man.  From his profile it shows he went to an ivy league school, but never got to ask him where that was.
• He encourages creativity.  He somehow got me jazzed up about painting again.  And finding other ways to make my passion = my work.  It's inspiring.
• He is very happy with his life, but he wants to always learn more and strike a better balance with work/life.  Balance is always good.
• Open about giving me compliments.  He commented on how he "liked my color" and I stupidly thought he was talking about my cool new blue sweater so I looked down at my sweater and started saying, "Oh yeah, thanks!  I like this sweater blahblahblahblaa.." and he interrupts me with, "Nono, I meant your skin tone".  *Palm in face*

Cons

• Not super attractive looking to me, but okay.  He's tall and fit with pretty blue eyes though!
• He has longish hair that's a bit greasy.  He keeps smoothing back his hair behind his ears.  Just cut it goddamnit!!
• Don't really like his clothing taste.  He had a leather jacket which is okay I guess, but a button up shirt (not a formal one, but just a casual one) which I wasn't crazy about.

So it seems my cons are all superficial.  Man, I sound like an awful person, but it matters!!  It really does!!

He asked me openly about the dates I'd had on match.  I told him some were disasters whereas others were not bad.  He told me how he dated a girl for about 6 months before off of match.  And I also told him I am not looking for anything serious right now and am dating other guys - stick around if you'd like, otherwise hit the road jack (in much, much nicer tones of course).  He said he'd stick around.  Cool, he was okay with it.  That's the spirit!  ;)

I told him I'd like to hang out with him again.  But if I continue to not find him physically attractive, I may have to cut it off.  It wouldn't be fair for either of us.   So we'll see where this goes.